Behind the Scenes of the 2025 Charity Watch Sale
To use a seasonal metaphor, the Charity Sale we held earlier this month for Terre des hommes was a perfect example of the snowball effect. What spruced last year from a random conversation with my friend Luigi Bonifacio turned into a successful first
Everything You Need to Know About the Bienne Charity Watch Sale for Terre des Hommes, Second Edition
November 23 update: The catalogue is now live on timefiles.ch/sale When we decided to do this last year, I wondered both if anyone would donate a watch, and if anyone would buy one. 54 donated watches donated, as many sold and 20,239 CHF
Asbestos, Lead, Radium: Interview with Jonathan Toumi, Diagnostics Expert at the Heart of the Watch Industry
I met Jonathan Toumi six years ago, after what my kids had picked up in the garden thinking it was an interesting rock turned out to be a chunk of asbestos-cement. I subsequently developed a phobia of asbestos and other hidden enemies of
Understanding Specifically How Terre des Hommes is Helping in Gaza
I know most of you come to this blog for watch-related content. Of the 99 articles I published before this one, watches, a personal passion / obsession, is largely what I’ve been writing about. And I realize that if I don’t want to
Just In Case: Behind the Scenes at Stila SA in La Chaux-de-Fonds
My favorite places where watches are made all have something in common. They’re timeless. Whether that’s ironic or on the contrary to the point is up for debate. Either way, Stila SA, at the heart of La Chaux-de-Fonds, itself at the heart of
A Psychiatrist’s Take on Watch Addiction – Interview with Dr Jean-Marie Sengelen
Attempting to grasp why watches are so powerful at – literally – capturing our minds has led me to read a bunch of books, and even writing one. Among the missing pieces of my ongoing puzzle is a truly scientific approach to understand
A Night in Bienne Watching David Beat Goliath
Bienne is globally renowned for its watches. As a place to live though, its image in Switzerland is uneven. A bad reputation developed during the quartz crisis era, when the city was at its lowest. It oddly seems to persist in some minds,
Amid Second Hand Drills and DVDs, My Little Secret for Watch Deals in Bienne
I wrote last month about the pleasure of purchasing affordable watches in Bienne. Some of you have since asked for my go-to places. While there are a few, none come close in their abundance of choice – and frequency of my visits –
The Best Watch Museums in Switzerland
As Watches & Wonders kicks off on Tuesday, professionals and enthusiasts from around the world will converge around the industry’s latest novelties. Living in a city where thousands of folks depend on the global watch market to make ends meet, I certainly respect
Understanding the Paradigm Shift in International Aid – A Conversation with Stéphanie Simpson of Terre des Hommes
As regular readers of this blog know, I try to modestly support an NGO close to my heart, Terre des hommes, the leading Swiss organization for children’s rights. If you remember the charity watch sale a few of us organized at the end
